26 Years Later
by Natalia2002
Summary: A year after 24 years later. It follows the new trouble the main gang has to deal with. Marriage, Long distance relationships, and living with your ex's family. Will they be able to keep their friendships and relationships together or will all fall apart?
1. Chapter 1

***Author's note: for anyone who read the first story in this series welcome back, if you haven't read the first one go and read it, this one will make more sense. This story is supposed to take place 1 year after the first, starting at the quidditch world cup (which is England v.s Bulgaria this year) that's why it's 26 years later. Hope you like this one and please leave comments I would like any and all feedback and/or ideas. - Kay***

Chapter 1: Reunited at last

The crowd roared to life with cheers as Albus Severus Potter caught the golden snitch, winning the Quidditch World Cup for England. He thrust his fist high in the air as he did a victory lap around the pitch. As he landed his team hoisted him on to their shoulders and carried him over to the teams dressing room. After everything had calmed down Albus headed out of the arena to try and find his family. As he stepped out of the door he was approached by an elderly gentleman and none other than Viktor Krum.

"You are Albus Potter?" The man asked. He had a thick Bulgarian accent, it was rather hard for Albus to understand what he was saying.

"Uh yes, and who might you be?" Albus extended a hand to the man, who shook it lightly.

"I am Ivan Williams, the recruitment head for the national Bulgarian quidditch team. Are your parents around, I would like to speak to them and you."

"Uh, yes. They should be in their tent. Follow me." Albus lead the way to a tent just around the other side of the arena.

"Mum, Dad?!" He called as he walked into the tent.

"Oh Albus darling! We're so proud!" Ginny said as she pulled her son into a bone crushing hug.

"Mum, Dad. This is Mr. Williams he wants to talk to us."

"Oh yes. Have a seat Mr. Williams." Mr. Williams took a seat on the sofa across from Harry and Ginny who sat in arm chairs. Viktor Krum stood to the side of Mr. Williams, Albus did the same, standing beside his mother.

"Mr and Mrs. Potter, as I'm sure you are aware Mr. Krum here was the youngest seeker to ever play in the world cup, that was until your son Albus joined the English team. As you must be aware Mr. Krum announced that he would be retiring from quidditch after the world cup. Well he has decided that your son should replace him as seeker for the Bulgarian team."

"What?!" Albus said, a mingled look of shock and excitement spread across his face.

"Wait, you want our 17 year old son to go and play for the Bulgarian quidditch team? You want him to move to Bulgaria?" Ginny asked looking thoroughly confused.

"I would like Albus to take my spot as seeker on the Bulgarian team. He has a unique talent, he would be a great addition to the team." Viktor said, speaking for the first time.

"But he would have to move to Bulgaria?" Harry asked.

"Well, yes. He would have to live in Bulgaria, but he would have time off during the holidays and he would get an additional two months of vacation time." Mr. Williams said pulling a brown envelope out of his jacket pocket.

"He would also be welcomed to stay with my family and I until he can find his own permanent place to live." Viktor said looking at Ginny.

"Thank you Viktor, that's very kind of you." Ginny said giving him a small smile.

"This is the contract for the position, Viktor and I have already signed we just need Albus to sign it." Mr. Williams said passing the envelope over to Harry and Ginny so they could read through it.

After Ginny, Harry, and Albus had read through it fully Ginny looked up at her son,

"So, Albus. This is your choice, do you want to take the offer?" Ginny gave him a reassuring smile.

"Yes!" Albus just about shouted. He quickly signed it and passed it back to Mr. Williams.

"Thank you, thank you both for this great opportunity. I would love to stay but I really must go, I'm rather late." Albus quickly said goodbye to his parents before running off. He had received a letter that morning from Natalia. He hadn't heard from her in over a year as per their agreement. She had asked him to meet her two hours after the match in her tent. It was already an hour and a half after the match and he still need to go and see Lily, Scorpius, James, Maia, Hugo, Edwin, Sage, and Rose. They had gotten one giant tent that they all shared to get away from their parents. Albus walked into the tent to see complete chaos. Everyone was jumping around chanting "England", and waving english flags around.

"What in Merlin's name is going on here?" Everyone turned at the sound of Albus' voice.

"Al!" They all yelled. He nearly fell over from the force of Lily hugging him.

"Lils you're killing me." He said as Lily began to let go.

"Sorry." She said blushing.

"Congrats Al." James said hugging his little brother. Albus was overjoyed to see James and Maia. They had both moved to Romania to Join Albus' and James' uncle Charlie at the dragon reserve. James was working with the dragons and Maia had trained to be a healer, who now had to heal burns and dragon wounds.

"Thanks." He said letting go of James so he could hug Maia, his soon to be sister in law. Her and James had gotten engaged two months ago.

"Great job today Al." Hugo said walking over to hug his cousin.

"Yeah, great job." Edwin said shaking hands with Albus. Edwin and Hugo were still together and trying to figure out a way to make long distance work next year while Hugo's still in school.

"You know I didn't think you could do it." Sage said with a wink, before hugging Albus. Albus and Sage had gotten a lot closer this past year as their siblings had been ignoring them.

"Not like you could do any better." He shot back. He quickly regretted his comment, as Sage had swiftly punched him in the arm.

"Sage we've been over this." Rose said in her "mother" voice. She had become the mother of the friend group since Maia now lived in Romania. She acted as a mother figure to Sage as her's and Scorpius' mother had died a few years back. Sage really looked up to Rose.

"I'd love to stay and party but I'm going to be late if I don't leave now." Albus said slowly backing towards the door.

"Where are you going?" James said looking confused.

"He's going to meet Nat obviously." Lily said. Albus had turned beet red at her words.

"What? I thought you guys weren't talking." Sage said, looking confused.

"We weren't, but I got a letter from her this morning asking me to meet her. Last year we agreed not to talk or meet till the world cup." Albus had the biggest grin on his face, he looked like a little kid who just found out his crush likes him.

"Go then! Stop standing here talking to us. We can wait." Lily said starting to push Albus towards the door.

"See you guys later." He called back behind him as he left. He made his way through the maze of tents, looking for just one. He knew he had found the right tent, as it had bright red tulips, Natalia's favorite flower, growing outside. It also had a little sign hanging on the front that read,

"Natalia Krum" With two little hearts on either side of her name. As it was a tent and therefore had no door, Albus knocked on the wooden post holding it up to make his presence known. The tent flap was pushed back to reveal Miss. Natalia Krum. She looked just as Albus remembered her. Her golden eyes met his, fleeting to a rose gold.

"Albus!" She swung her arms around his neck, pulling him into a hug. Albus remembered how much he missed this, how much he missed her.

"Come in, please." She said letting go of him and moving back to let him into her tent. As he stepped in he took a look around the quaint little tent, which was clearly meant for only one or two people. There was a small kitchen and dining table pushed to one side, and couch and armchair on the other side. There was a small room at the back closed off, Albus assumed it was her bedroom.

"Take a seat." Natalia said gesturing to the couch. Albus took a seat, Natalia sat beside him.

"So congrats on winning tonight."

"Oh thanks. Your dad played really well, I almost thought we were going to lose." Albus and Natalia laughed.

"So how has your past year been?" He asked, wanting to know so badly.

"Oh, well it was interesting. I've never really liked Durmstrang, it just gives me an odd vibe. It wasn't too bad though. So how have you been?"

"Good, really good. I wasn't really there for my last year at Hogwarts, I was constantly pulled away to practice with the rest of the English team. It's been kind of hard though with James and Maia living in Romania now. Mum is constantly worried about them, and Dad is dead set against Lily becoming an Aura. it's also been really hard on them because I'm constantly away playing quidditch. It's just really hectic."

"Yeah, Lily was telling me about the whole Aura thing. I'm really happy for James and Maia though, now that they're engaged." Albus had forgotten that everyone else had been writing to Natalia and visiting her.

"I've missed this." Natalia said with a sigh.

"Missed what?"

"Talking to you. It's been really hard for me not to write to you, to distract myself from school or just to tell you about things going on in my life."

"Yeah I know what you mean." It was silent for a few minutes. They just sat there together, happy they were finally talking again.

"Al?"

"Yeah Nat?"

"I… I want to try again. Try being together, in a relationship again."

"Nat." Albus looked at her, he could see the hope in her eyes.

"Nat, I… I can't. I have a girlfriend, I'm sorry." Albus could see her eyes turning lilac.

"Oh, okay. It's fine, she's a lucky girl. Who is she?" Natalia's eyes changed back to gold.

"Sage. We haven't really told anyone that we're together."

"Sage, really? I didn't know you guys were into each other."

"Yeah. We started spending more time together last summer and during the school year, because Lily and Scorp are together and Rose was way to into her studies. We never really realized how much we have in common, because we never really spent time together just the two of us. Nat please don't tell anyone about me and Sage, we don't want anyone to know yet just in case it doesn't work out. I also don't feel like being murdered by Rose and Scorp." Natalia knew she couldn't be sad or angry that Albus had moved on because she was the one who dumped him. She smiled at Albus, she knew he'd feel guilty if he knew how she really felt.

"I promise I won't tell anyone. So how long have you two been together?"

"Umm, well I guess it'd be a year in September." A sharp pain hit Natalia in the chest. How could he have moved on so quickly, when she couldn't even think about being with someone else a year after they broke up?

"Wow, good for you guys." Natalia quickly tried to think of something to get rid of Albus, she couldn't hold back the tears for much longer.

"Oh, look at the time. You must be exhausted. Why don't you head back to your tent for the night and maybe we could meet up sometime tomorrow?" Albus looked over at the clock on the wall. Realizing it was past midnight he got up.

"Yeah that sounds good. Just owl me if you want to hangout. Goodnight Nat." He lent over and kissed her on the cheek. It had been so long since Natalia had felt that, but it felt so right. She watched as Albus left, the flap of the tent swaying as he walked out. When she was sure he couldn't hear her anymore, she broke down in tears, the pain of losing him was too much for her.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Three big announcements

The next morning Albus awoke late and quickly got dressed. When he went out into the sitting room, he was met by everyone sitting on the many couches and armchairs saying nothing. Confused he took a seat beside Sage.

"What's going on?" He asked looking around at everyone.

"Lily and Scorp have something to tell us but refused to say anything until you got here." Hugo said looking irritated.

"Well now that everyone's here we have something very important to tell you." Lily said in a nervous and shaky voice.

"Oh, god. Please tell me you're not pregnant?" James said in a stern but nervous voice.

"What?! No." Lily said glaring at her brother for even suggesting such an idea.

"Lils and I have decided to call it quits. We uh… we broke up about three months ago." Scorpius' announcement was met by looks of confusion.

"So, wait. You're telling us that you guys, the perfect couple, broke up three months ago and have what, just been acting up until now?" Albus asked looking very confused.

"Well, yeah." Scorpius said.

"We haven't been working for a while. About six months ago we started fighting about the dumbest things, then all at once all our old big arguments came rushing back and we just broke. We realized we were hurting each other more by staying together then by breaking up. So we called it quits. We didn't want to tell you guys because the quidditch world cup was coming up and we didn't want to distract you Albus." Lily looked around at everyone, who seemed to be less confused now.

"We didn't want to tell anyone else because we didn't want everyone but Albus knowing just in case he overheard us talking or one of us let it slip. So we've just been pretending to be together. Don't worry we ended it on good terms so we're fine to still hangout with everyone." Scorpius said filling in the rest and clearing everything up.

"Wow and I thought I had big news." Albus sighed.

"What news?" Sage asked a little confused.

"Um, well last night I.."

"You and Nat got back together?!" Lily asked interrupting Albus.

"What? No. Lily let me speak. Last night I was asked by Viktor Krum to take his place as the Bulgarian's team seeker. I leave for Bulgaria at the start of next summer." Everyone shared looks of shock and excitement.

"What?! That's great Al." James said.

"Yeah congrats mate." Scorpius said.

"Wow." Is all Hugo could say. Everyone congratulated Albus on his great opportunity.

"I can't believe you'll be moving to Bulgaria next year." Scorpius said.

"We're all gonna miss you mate." Hugo said.

"I'm going to miss you guys as well." After talking to Albus for a few hours about his new job, everyone broke apart to go off and explore their last day at the world cup. When no one was looking Albus and Sage snuck off together. They went into the woods where they knew no one would see them.

"Bulgaria. That's a great opportunity Al." Sage said while walking amongst the trees, Albus by her side.

"Yeah. I'm sorry I didn't tell you first. I was going to, but by the time I got back from Nat's you were asleep already."

"It's fine. It's just going to be hard next year. You'll be moving to Bulgaria and I'll be here. You know long distance doesn't work, and with no one knowing about us it's not like I can just go up and visit you without someone else coming along or questioning it."

"Why don't we tell them then?" Albus stopped, staring at Sage.

"I mean we've been together almost a year now, so why don't we tell them?"

"Al, what if it doesn't work out? Or what if no one approves of it?" Sage moved a little closer to Albus.

"It didn't work out for Lily and Scorpius and everything's fine with them. Also who cares what they think? We're happy and that's all that matters." Albus wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, so she was pressed against his chest.

"Okay, okay. We'll tell them. Just not today we've had enough big announcements for one day."

"Yay!" Albus shouted.

"Why are you so happy about this? All we're doing is telling our friends and family that we're dating."

"This means I can finally kiss you when we're not sneaking around, and I can hold your hand, and sit with you, and hug you."

"Well if you want to kiss me, why don't you?" Sage looked up at Albus with a sly smile. He cupped her face with one of his hands and kissed her. Their kissed was so intense, Albus picked her up. They quickly broke apart when they heard footsteps rapidly approaching. It was Lily.

"Oh here you guys are. I just thought I should come get you because Nat is back and wanted to see everyone."

"Oh, thanks Lils. We'll start heading back in a minute."

"Okay. See ya guys." Lily ran off back towards the campground.

"So what happened with you and Nat last night?" Sage asked looking back at Albus.

"Oh, nothing much we just snogged a bit." Sage punched him.

"Ow. I'm joking I promise." He said with a laugh.

"You don't have to worry. Nothing happened. We just talked a bit. She asked if I wanted to get back together, I said I was dating you."

"She what?!" Sage looked like she might punch Albus again.

"She wanted to know if I wanted to get back together. But I told her we are together."

"So you thought it'd be a good idea to tell your ex-girlfriend, who just asked you to get back together, that you are dating me when we haven't even told our friends?"

"Well yeah. What was I supposed to say?"

"I don't know."

"I told her we haven't told anyone yet and she promised she wouldn't tell anyone."

"And you just took her word for it?"

"I mean, yeah."

"Your ex-girlfriend just asked you to get back together and you said no because you have a girlfriend that no one knows about. But you thought it'd be a good idea to tell her and trust her not to tell anyone. Are you fucking dumb?"

"So, I see what you mean now and realize we should head back and tell everyone before she does."

"Finally." Sage grabbed Albus' hand and dragged him back towards their campsite. When they got back to the tent they were greeted by the sound of laughter, from the looks of it Natalia had made a very funny joke.

"Hey look who's back." Lily said as they walked into the tent. Natalia stood up when she saw them and ran over to give Albus a hug. Taken off guard by the hug Albus, took a step back pulling Sage with him, forgetting he was still holding her hand.

"Oh, uh. Hey Nat." Albus said pulling away from her. Everyone was now staring at Albus and Sage's intertwined hands. Sage noticed and quickly let go of Albus' hand, taking a step to the side to make more space between them.

"Ummm what's going on with you two?" James asked looking very confused.

"Nothing." Sage said turning beet red.

"Okay, so you guys holding hands is just nothing then." Maia said in the most sarcastic tone she could muster.

"Can someone please explain to me why Albus is holding my sisters hand, after coming back from the forest alone?!" Scorpius asked, a look of confusion and rage washed across his face.

"Scorp calm down, we were just hanging out. It was nothing." Sage explained with a guilty tone.

"Nothing? Really?" Albus asked looking Sage in the eye. She could see the pain reflecting back from his.

"Al you know what I mean." She said looking at him with pleading eyes.

"Sage please. Can we just tell them?" Albus begged. Sage could see the agony in his face, and realized how much pain this was putting him through.

"Albus can I talk to you for a minute alone?" Sage asked, she needed to figure everything out. Albus nodded and followed Sage into her room, everyone was watching them as they walked off. Once they were inside Sage put a silencing charm on the drapes used as a makeshift door.

"I thought we were going to tell them." Albus said taking a seat on the bed.

"We were, it's just when I saw the look on Scorps face when he noticed we were holding hands I just froze. I don't know if it's a good idea anymore, to tell them. I just don't want him to be mad." Sage took a seat next to Albus, a worried look on her face.

"Don't worry about Scorp, he can't be too mad. I mean after all he did date my sister. Even if he is that's not going to stop me from dating you. He could hate me and I still wouldn't stop loving you. I mean…"

"Wait what did you say?!" Sage cut off Albus as she stood up.

"What, that I'll keep dating you even if he hates me?"

"No after that."

"Oh, well. I love you." At those three simple words Sage threw herself into Albus' arms and kissed him, like she had never kissed him before.

"I love you too." She whispered against his lips. For a few moments it was just them, alone in Sage's room, kissing. Slowly Sage pulled away, resting in Albus' arms looking up into his green eyes.

"Let's tell them." She said.

"But what about Scorp?" Albus asked.

"If he has a problem with it then that's fine, it's his problem and he can learn to deal with it."

"Okay, let's go tell them then." Sage stepped back and took Albus' hand, with the other she removed the silencing charm from the drapes and pulled them back.

"You're dating!" Lily shouted before they could even take a step outside of Sage's room.

"How did you know?" Albus asked glaring at his little sister.

"I guessed."

"What do you mean you guessed?" Sage asked looking thoroughly confused.

"Well you guys were in the forest alone and practically jumped when I showed up, you came back holding hands, and you just went off to Sage's room to "talk". Also I kept seeing Albus sneaking around at night these past few days so I'm assuming you were in Sage's room or coming back from. It was kind of obvious."

"Damn Lily, you figured that out fast." Sage said, a little impressed.

"Ha, so I'm right?" Lily asked.

"Yes Lils you're right." Albus said with a small smile.

"Wow, I'm so happy for you guys." Maia said getting up to hug them both.

"Same." Said James from his seat on the sofa.

"How long have guys been a thing?" Rose asked.

"It couldn't have been too long if Lily was able to figure it out." Hugo said shooting a cheeky smile at Lily. Edwin laughed.

"About a year." Sage said, her cheeks turned bright red.

"A year?!" Scorpius said, a look of anger in his eyes.

"You've been dating my sister for a year and you didn't feel the need to tell me?!"

"Scorp calm down, please. We didn't tell anyone, we wanted to keep it secret just in case it didn't work out, like you and Lily." Sage said in a smooth calming tone.

"Lily and I are an entirely different story, and you should have at least told me."

"How are you and Lily and different then me and Sage? You were friends first who dated and realized it didn't work so you broke up. You said nothing would change, but it's only been a few hours and things have changed already. For god sake you guys can't even sit near one another. So excuse us for trying to avoid this happening with two more people." Albus said squeezing Sage's hand in anger.

"Ow! Al you're hurting me." Sage said trying to pull Albus' hand off of her's. Noticing what he was doing Albus let go.

"Sorry babe." He kissed her on the forehead.

"Scorp you can't get mad at them for hiding their relationship, and you can't get mad at them for being in a relationship." Maia said trying to calm him down a little. At this point everyone was staring at Scorpius. Not being able to handle the pressure he ran out of the tent, Albus ran after him.

"Mate wait up!" He called after him. Scorpius stopped but didn't turn around to face Albus.

"If you're mad at me fine, I don't care. Just please don't be mad at Sage, she did nothing wrong." Scorpius turned around to face him, anger spread across his face.

"Nothing wrong!? She hid her relationship from me for a year, not only that but she's dating my best mate. She didn't even ask me first if I was fine with you two dating, she just went ahead and did it."

"Scorp she didn't think she needed to ask because you and Lily were together at the time, and she only hid it from you cause she didn't want things between us to be weird if her and I broke up." Scorpius seemed to be calming down but he still didn't look happy.

"Fine, but I'm still mad at you for keeping this from me. I mean it could have been worse, you could have been shagging her as well." Albus' cheeks turned bright red at Scorpius' last comment.

"Oh great, you were shagging her as well."

"You can't be mad at me for that you were shagging my sister for over a year."

"Yeah I guess." They stood in silence for awhile.

"Come on let's go back inside before Sage gets too worried." Together they walked back to the tent.


End file.
